Halo: The Master Chief Collection skulls

The skull selection menu in The Master Chief Collection

Skulls are gameplay modifiers with the appearance of a human skull featured in Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Like in Halo 3: ODST, Halo: Reach and Halo 4, the skulls are no longer easter eggs in-game, and can also be accessed in the campaign menu without claiming them in campaign levels. A total 38 skulls are included in the collection, including several unique additions to Halo 2: Anniversary.

Skulls in The Master Chief Collection are divided into two categories: Scoring and Non-Scoring. Scoring skulls increase the challenge and reward players with higher score multipliers or bonuses to base enemy values when turned on. Non-Scoring skulls can either be neutral, such as Grunt Birthday Party, or in cases of cheat-like skulls, have a score multiplier of zero. Zero multiplier skulls like Scarab disqualify level times and scores from being recorded on the leaderboard and disable score and time-based achievements.

List of skulls

The games in which the skull is available are listed below each skull. Pre-order skulls are marked with ¹ and were unlocked globally on December 12, 2014. With the exception of these as well as the Swarm skull, all other skulls are unlocked from the start. Skulls marked with ² were not available in the original release of the games, but were implemented via updates in the MCC Insider Program. Skulls marked with ³ are "experimental"; starting a level with one of these skulls activated will result in a pop-up message warning "You have turned on an experimental skull which may produce unexpected scenarios or hinder your ability to complete this mission. Experimental skulls may be disabled to return the game to a normal state." The Acrophobia skull was added into the game for Halo 3 for the release of Halo 3 on PC. The Acrophobia could originally only be unlocked for use by completing a seasonal challenge to kill 343 flying enemies in Halo 3, between July 14 and July 29, 2020. It was unlocked globally after July 29, 2020. New skulls from the collection became available on Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST with the update on 11 April 2022. Acrophobia and Bandanna were added to Halo 4 in the December 2022 update.. Acrophobia was added to Halo: Combat Evolved in July 2023. Hunter boarding via the Bandanna skull was added to Reach in September 2022, and Halo 2 in July 2023.

Icon	Name	Description	Multiplier	HCEA	H2A	H3	ODST	H4	Reach
	Acrophobia	The Corps: Now issue rifles AND wings... (Press Jump twice to fly.)	0.00x	Yes² ³	Yes² ³	Yes²	Yes² ³	Yes² ³	Yes² ³
	Anger	Enemies fire their weapons faster and more frequently.	1.10x	Yes²	Yes	Yes²	Yes²	No	No
	Assassins	All enemies in the game are permanently cloaked.	1.20x	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
	Bandanna¹	Infinite Ammo. In Halo 2 and Reach, this skull will allow players to board Hunters.	0.00x	Yes	Yes	Yes²	Yes²	Yes² ³	Yes² ³
	Black Eye	Your shields only recharge when you melee enemies. Bash your way to better health!	1.10x	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Blind	HUD and weapon do not display onscreen.	1.10x	Yes²	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Bonded Pair¹	Co-op skull: When one player dies, the other player gets a large damage boost that lasts a while.	0.00x	No	Yes	Yes²	Yes²	No	No
	Boom¹	Explosions have twice the damage radius. Light fuse, run away.	1.00x	Yes	Yes	Yes²	Yes² ³	No	No
	Catch	Enemies throw and drop more grenades.	1.10x	Yes²	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Cowbell	Acceleration from explosions is increased.	1.00x	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Envy	Chief trades his flashlight for Active Camo.	0.00x	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
	Eye Patch	Auto aim features disabled for all weapons. You'll miss it when it's gone.	1.10x	Yes	Yes	Yes²	Yes²	No	No
	Famine	Weapons dropped by AI have half the ammo they normally would. You might want to pack an extra magazine.	1.10x	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Feather¹	Player and enemy melee strikes impart more movement physics.	1.00x	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
	Fog	The motion tracker is disabled. You'll miss those eyes in the back of your head.	1.10x	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
	Foreign	Covenant weapons: How do they work? Players cannot pick up or use Covenant weapons.	1.10x	Yes	No	Yes²	Yes²	No	No
	Ghost	AI no longer flinch from attacks.	1.00x	Yes²	Yes	Yes²	Yes²	No	No
	Grunt Birthday Party	Grunt headshots lead to glorious celebrations.	1.00x	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Grunt Funeral¹	Grunts die in a blaze of glory. And plasma.	1.00x	Yes	Yes²	No	No	No	No
	Iron	Death carries a heavy price. Dying in co-op resets you at your last saved checkpoint. Dying solo restarts the level.	1.30x	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	IWHBYD (I Would Have Been Your Daddy)	Rare combat dialogue becomes more common.	1.00x	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Jacked	Players can only enter ground vehicles by boarding.	1.20x	No	Yes	Yes² ³	Yes² ³	No	No
	Malfunction	Every time you respawn, a random element of your HUD is disabled.	1.00x	Yes	Yes	Yes²	Yes²	No	No
	Masterblaster	Co-op skull: One player's shields recharge to overshield level and can only melee while the second player has no shields but infinite ammo. Roles switch after a number of enemy kills.	1.10x	No	Yes	Yes²	Yes²	No	No
	Mythic	Enemies have increased health.	1.20x	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Piñata¹	Punching enemies makes them drop grenades. Beat them 'til candy comes out!	1.00x	Yes	Yes	Yes²	Yes²	No	No
	Prophet Birthday Party	Punch that Prophet up to 11. (Each punch the player lands on the Prophet of Regret on the level Regret or the Prophet of Mercy's Gravity Throne on the level High Charity are accompanied by an electric guitar lick).	1.00x	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
	Recession	Every shot is worth twice the ammo. Save those bullets, player.	1.20x	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
	Scarab	All player-held weapons fire Scarab Gun beams.	0.00x	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
	SO...ANGRY...	Enraged Brutes explode like a frag grenade if not dispatched within seconds. Base Brute score values are increased.	1.00x	No	Yes	Yes²	Yes²	No	No
	Sputnik	Mass of objects is decreased, making them more easily displaced.	1.00x	Yes²	Yes	No	No	No	No
	Streaking	Player shields constantly decay at a slow pace but recharge some with every enemy kill.	1.20x	No	Yes	No	No	No	No
	Swarm	Hunters are much stronger. Base Hunter score values are increased.	1.00x	No	Yes	Yes²	Yes²	No	No
	That's Just... Wrong	Increases enemy awareness of player.	1.10x	Yes²	Yes	Yes²	Yes²	No	No
	They Come Back	Flood Combat Forms spawned by Infection Forms reanimating a corpse are much more dangerous. Flood Combat Form score values are increased.	1.00x	No	Yes	Yes²	No	No	No
	Thunderstorm	Upgrades the rank of most enemies.	1.20x	Yes²	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Tilt	Enemy resistances and weaknesses are increased.	1.20x	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Tough Luck	Enemies always go berserk, always dive out of the way, never flee.	1.10x	Yes²	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Trivia

• The description of the Acrophobia skull is a reference to The Truth and Reconciliation from Halo: Combat Evolved. where in the opening cutscene a marine says "The Corps issued me a rifle, not wings.".
• The Jacked skull will also prevent players from using mounted turrets. Unlike vehicles, turrets cannot be hijacked, therefore the skull renders them entirely unusable, though support weapons in Halo 3 and ODST can still be picked up and carried once they have been dislodged from their mounts.

Gallery

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  The Acrophobia skull being used on Requiem.